Name

Position

Office

Phone

Email

Graduate Student

B325

206-708-9572

dinob@uw.edu

Dino Bektešević researches how to do image analysis in big data settings. Currently, he is working on porting LSST image processing pipeline to Spark and executing it on AWS with hopes that the entire LSST stack can eventually be run in cloud by using a distributed, shared-nothing Big Data management system and Cloud service from the University of Washington called Myria. He is also involved in a group developing a new shift-and-stack moving object detection algorithm for astronomical images called KBMoD where he is a part of the group testing the algorithm on DECam images. His pet project and special interest is the extraction of long linear features that can be attributed to meteors for which he developed a linear…

Graduate Student

B341

tzdw@uw.edu

I am a third-year graduate student interested in many aspects of stellar evolution. In particular, I utilize cutting-edge stellar evolution models to craft simple observational tests of the importance of binarity in massive stellar evolution. I also like hunting for rare and strange objects like Thorne-Zytkow Objects and Red Supergiant X-ray Binaries, and massive stars pretending to be other things (often finding things pretending to be massive stars). Outside of graduate school, I help organize Astronomy On Tap SEA, play drums and percussion in Night Lunch, and bake cookies.

Graduate Student

B333

mdurbin@uw.edu

I’m interested in using resolved stars in nearby galaxies to learn about the evolution of galaxies as a whole. Right now my primary project involves identifying and characterizing populations of stars that exhibit anomalous Hα emission such as Be stars and symbiotics. I also work on predicting the upcoming space telescope WFIRST’s ability to recover ages and metallicities of resolved halo populations in the Local Volume.

Graduate Student

B319

tagordon@uw.edu

I’m working towards a Dual-Title PhD in Astronomy and Astrobiology. My research interests are detection and characterization of exoplanets. I’m currently working with Professor Eric Agol to investigate prospects for detecting exomoons using the James Webb Space Telescope.

Graduate Student

B337

eakruse@uw

I work with the Kepler data to discover and characterize new planets. Specifically, I am looking to find planets showing large transit timing variations (TTVs) that get missed by other pipelines. Using the TTVs, I hope to measure masses and densities of the most interesting (and rocky) Kepler planets.

Graduate Student

B323

mlazz@uw.edu

I study X-ray sources using multi-wavelength datasets. I am currently using data from NuSTAR, Chandra, and Hubble to study the X-ray binary population in M31. Using data from near infrared through hard X-ray wavelengths allows me to characterize the compact object, its stellar companion, and to understand HMXB systems in the context of the surrounding stellar population.

Graduate Student

B319

alinc@uw.edu

I am pursuing a dual-title Ph.D. in Astronomy & Astrobiology working with Professor Meadows on modeling exoplanet atmospheres. I continue development of a new 1D RCE climate model using the Virtual Planetary Laboratory‘s sophisticated SMART radiative transfer code. I primarily work on developing the convective routines, which include heat fluxes in unstable and stable atmospheres, phase changes, and cloud formation. I have been awarded a NASA Earth and Space Science Fellowship to implement a day/night heat transport structure and couple this model with the versatile KINETICS photochemistry code. These tools are used to model a variety of small planet atmospheres (particularly around M dwarfs) that may be very alien compared to Solar System planets. These models are also used to to…

Graduate Student

B335

lurie@uw.edu

I’m using time domain and large-area photometric surveys to understand the Milky Way’s stellar populations, from the magnetic activity of individual stars all the way to kiloparsec-scale substructures in the halo and disk.

Graduate Student

B319

jlustigy@

I’m interested in finding and characterizing habitable extrasolar planets. Currently, I’m developing an atmospheric retrieval code to analyze the spectra of terrestrial exoplanets in the habitable zones of their parent stars with the hopes of determining which planets may be suitable for, or inhabited by, life.

Graduate Student

B339

moeyensj@uw.edu

Joachim is interested in big data and software driven solutions to problems in astronomy. During his undergraduate studies at the University of Washington he was presented with the opportunity to work on a research project for the Large Synoptic Survey Telescope (LSST). This project focused on LSST’s photometric calibration in relation to its auxiliary telescope. He is now working on LSST’s Moving Object Pipeline System (MOPS): the software designed to link millions of moving object detections into realistic and time-forward predictable orbits.

Graduate Student

B339

206-915-9093

suberlak@uw.edu

I am interested in phenomena related to Active Galactic Nuclei, including High-Energy Astrophysics, the physics of accretion disks, and black holes. My current research with Dr Ivezić involves studying the variability of distant galaxies hosting an AGN – Quasars, using the Sloan Digital Sky Survey data, and the Catalina Real-Time Transient Survey data. Understanding the parameters of variability, and the accuracy of the Damped Random Walk model, serves as a useful tool of Physics at the accretion disk scales.

Graduate Student

B341

206-543-5185

scw7@uw.edu

Spencer Wallace is a first year graduate student in astronomy at the University of Washington. His interests include using computer simulations to study the formation of stars and galaxies in the early universe.